RC 183 
.B45 
Copy 1 



RC 183 
.845 
Copy 1 




SMALLPOX 



IT'S EXTERNAL TREAT- 
MENT AND PREVENTION 




Price Twenty-Five Cents The Copy 



BY 



WILLIAM BELSHAW 

LOWELL, ! : WASHINGTON. 



SMALLPOX 



IT'S EXTERNAL TREAT- 
MENT AND PREVENTION 




'Prrce Twenty-Five Ge^fti Tlie -Copy 



Copyright, t904,by - 

WILLIAM BELSHAW 

Press of W. Maw, Snohomish, Wash. 




A3 



[A 



Introductory. 



THE object of this work is to give practical information and 
instruction to those who may be called upon to nurse per- 
sons sick with Smallpox, giving them a degree of protection not 
hitherto obtainable by any other means until put in practice by 
the author at his own individual risk. 

The protection, when this system is used, is greater than 
that given naturally by a recovery from the disease; from the fact 
that a person who has had smallpox is only partially defended 
against the disease. By this artificial method a person receives 
the same protection, and at the same time it acts offensively 
against the disease. 

By treating the patient by the method given herein the 
patient is not only relieved of considerable suffering, an important 
object in itself, but every move in this direction is a practical 
move in the destruction of Smallpox disease germs where they 
are produced. 

To persons who by accident might be exposed to Smallpox 
I can recommend the method given, even though the incubatory 
period is nearly expired. To persons who have a natural fear of 
Smallpox, I would call attention to the fact that continual protec- 
tion or immunity can be given at an expense that need not ex- 
ceed 50 cents to $1.00 per year. W. B. 



SMALLPOX 



What It Is and It's Mode of Action. 

SMALLPOX, from my independent point of view, is a disease 
belonging to fermenting organisms similar to fermentation of 
vinegar, small, it is true. The seeds find entrance to the human 
organism by breathing or swallowing and are also absorbed or 
pass through the skin after an incubatory period of about six days, 
which to all appearances has been occupied in reaching the seat 
of activity. Where the skin is broken the disease is advanced 
six days. This seat of activity is the white blood cells between 
the two skins. Fermentation of these blood cells takes place; 
fever increases to the ninth day, blisters are forced out upon the 
outer skin, filled with a watery substance much in appearance to 
the blisters that come upon the palms of the hands through hard, 
unaccustomed labor, only they are more defined in circles. These 
blisters are more or less numerous, varying with the severity of 
the case. They first make their appearance on the top of the 
forehead, travel downward over the whole surface of the body to 
the ends of the toes, and also spread to the ends of the fingers. 
It takes about nine days to travel over this outer surface. While 
this has been going on it has traveled down the respiratory organs 



to the lungs, reaching there between the ninth and tenth day. If 
the case is a severe one, breathing is cut off by the disease's 
action upon the lungs and death is a natural consequence, by 
smothering. The disease has also passed at the same time 
through the whole course of the digestive organs. 

About the eleventh day the blisters have begun to dry up, 
many of them break; fever subsides and recovery commences. 
But the patient is not left to his victory over one disease enemy 
before another one has to be encountered. This second one does 
not produce fever but the patient suffers from itching where the 
blisters have been. Many patients have suffered untold misery 
from this cause, increased by the attendants tying their hands 
and feet to prevent them from tearing themselves in their efforts 
to allay the itching by scratching the afflicted parts. 

Recuperation from Smallpox proper seems to add new vigor 
to fight against this secondary disease; also against any old 
chronic disorder that the patient might have had previous to his 
sickness. Two weeks from the time the disease reaches its 
height, recovery is surprisingly rapid considering the amount of 
wounded surface which has to be headed over. The appetite in- 
creases and after about two weeks more the patient is able to go 
about his business, disease scarred, or Smallpox marked, it is true 
yet often in other v/ays a healthier person than before. 



TREATMENT OF SMALLPOX 

Although, so far as 1 have any means of knowing. Smallpox 
when under headway is not curable in the strict sense of the word, 
yet I do not consider the time is far distant when Smallpox will 
be curable. That is, as soon as it is known that a person is suf- 
fering from the disease, to be able to give such treatment as will 



arrest the disease from going any farther, or, say six hours from^ 
the time treatment commences, the patient begins to convalesce 
instead of having the disease run its course of three or four weeks. 
All that is required is to prevent the active fermentation under 
the first skin. V/hile it is not curable we can relieve the patient 
from considerable suffering even though we let the disease run 
its course. Three very important things can be done in favor of 
the patient: All fever can be arrested that has its origin on the 
exterior skin surface of the body; all itching can be prevented 
that has its origin in the same place; and the throat can be kept 
clean by the use of different gargles. So, although we cannot 
claim a complete victory we can still put up a good fight. 

My method of treating Smallpox is to use a disinfectant 
wash m^ade of one ounce of Nitrate of Lead to one quart of water. 
This can be applied with a soft sponge or cbth, or what is still 
better, a camel's hair brush about two or three inches wide. By 
applying this to the surface of the skin a large amount of the 
active Smallpox germs are destroyed and the effect upon the 
patient is almost instantaneous relief from fever; and the suffering 
which fever causes. The fever rapidly ceases and the patient re- 
covers rationality. This relief although I claim of the very best, 
is only temporary; and fever commences to be active again in 
about half an hour. The same treatment can be repeated and 
the same good effect produced and continued as long as any fever 
symptoms show themselves. As the disease travels to other parts 
of the body the fever will become of a local character instead of 
general, leaving the head and face for the arms; the arms for the 
body and the body for the legs and toes. The same treatment 
can be continued so long as any fever is complained of on any 
part of the outer surface of the body. When the disease reaches 
the lungs or bowels this treatment cannot be used, but the throat. 



which has been filled with phlegm and swollen, something like 
diphtheria, can be cleansed and relieved by using the disinfectant 
wash already given. This wash when used as a gargle must ne- 
cessarily be used with extreme caution. The patient must be 
careful not to swallow any of it on account of its poisonous nature; 
so after using it as a gargle the mouth should be washed out with 
warm water. Listerine can be used as a gargle with safety, and 
with nearly the same degree of success. Either of the gargles 
must be repeated as often as any mucous comes into the throat. 
Sometimes this has to be repeated every fifteen minutes or half 
hour for several days and must not be neglected on account of the 
likelihood of choking. The disease in passing through the bowels 
is likely to produce more or less costiveness, which can, to a cer- 
tain extent, be relieved by the use of a syringe. 

When recovery from Smallpox begins to take place there is 
likely to be hemorrhage of the bowels, especially if the case is a 
severe one. This is caused by the scales or scabs coming off on 
the inner coating of the bowels but recuperation will heal these 
internal sores and the hemorrhage cease. The Smallpox proper 
having run its course the sores commence to dry up and the 
second disease begins to take effect. This second disease dees 
not produce a blister but an eating sore. The sensation to the 
patient is itching; it also produces a very annoying odor, perhaps 
the correct name for it would be syphilis. It eats, rots, and 
throws out an annoying odor and makes the patient suffer 
from itching while it lasts, By following the same method of 
treatment for this secondary disease, the disease is destroyed and 
the itching ceases. The peculiarity of this second disease is that 
it follows the same course over the body as the first; taking about 
the same length of time to do its work. By repeating the treat- 
ment every time the patient begins to complain of itching there 



will be but very little need to tie hands or muffle them, Besides, 
by this treatment, the foul odor is kept down. It is wholesale 
disinfection or destruction of active disease germs where they are 
produced or propagated. 

Much the same hygienic rules are applicable to a person sick 
with Smallpox as are applicable to other kinds of sickness, with 
perhaps a few minor exceptions. Special care should be taken to 
let patients have all the new milk they can drink. A thermometer 
is very essential and the temperature of the room requires to be 
fully under control. Persons suffering from Smallpox are ex- 
tremely sensitive to changes of temperature. A variation of one 
or two degrees being instantly felt by them. A peculiarity which 
has been noticed in Smallpox patients is that each person has a 
minimum degree of temperature. In three different persons the 
minimum temperature required was 65, 75, and 83 degrees. No 
two of these persons could have been kept in the same room 
without the minimum temperature of one being a source of suf- 
fering to the other. That is, the one whose temperature was 75 
would have suffered seriously from heat had the temperature been 
kept at 83 degrees to suit one patient, and with cold if kept at 65 
which would have suited another. 

The bedding of a Smallpox patient should be of some soft 
material. I would prefer a mattress with an extra thick layer of 
cotton on top of it. The soft cotton top of the mattress is better 
than a feather bed, but any bed should be soft on account cf the 
patient having to lay on a considerable number of sores and a bed 
made of any hard substance would cause the patient unnecessary 
suffering on that account. The sheets should be changed every 
day and the dirty ones cremated in a hot coal fire. Fresh, clean 
sheets that have been worn are better than new ones and should 
be used to replace the ones taken off. 



Ventilation is a thing that must be attended to. Smallpox 
proper through the fever stage is very suffocating and both patient 
and nurse will suffer from this alone. It is still worse if the ven- 
tilation is not good during that time. During the convalescent 
stage, or as soon as the second disease begins to take effect, an 
annoying odor is emitted from the patient and ventilation is again 
necessary on that account to let this foul odor escape. 

In the matter of food for a person suffering from Smallpox 
I do not think any special instruction is necessary with the single 
exception of plenty of good, new milk during the fever stage to 
the point of convalescence. Then, nearly any kind of food that 
the patient has been accustomed to can be relished with a grad- 
ually increasing appetite. A great deal of the food seems to be 
utilized in the healing process. The patient gains slowly in flesh, 
considering the amount of food consumed. 

Cleanliness around a patient cannot go too far, so long as it 
does not injure the patient. I have found old newspapers useful 
for temporary carpets as they can be rolled up and burnt in the 
stove and daily replaced with new ones. 



PREVENTION OF SMALLPOX 

To prevent a person contracting Smallpox, whose duty is to 
attend to the wants of those suffering from the disease, all that is 
required is to use the solution of Nitrate of Lead of the same 
strength, and bathe the whole exterior surface of the body from 
head to feet; letting the solution dry on the body. This operation 
will sterilize any Smallpox germs upon the skin and while it re- 
mains there, will sterilize any germ that may come in contact 
with it. Thus acting as an effective coat of mail, preventing the 
disease getting through the skin. Although it would be using 



good judgment to use it in the manner described before going_ 
near the disease, I have several reasons to believe that this treat- 
ment would be effectual in preventing sickness two days after 
contact, with a decreasing possibility to the sixth day. While 
this method of treatment effectually bars the disease from getting 
through the skin it does not prevent the disease germs from get- 
ting upon the lungs or from swallowing them, and a person will 
suffer a certain amount by the disease getting upon the lungs and 
bowels, though but small compared with a person broken out with 
Smallpox upon the exterior surface of the body; nor does it leave 
any visible marks, neither is there any secondary troubles to con- 
tend against. Some noteworthy, or curious facts, are possible by 
this method of prevention. If the skin is broken while the person 
so protected is in contact with' the disease the Smallpox germs 
will get into it and form a local Smallpox pustule but it will not 
become general over the whole body. Again, if a part of the 
body is left unprotected that particular part will suffer to a point 
where the protection is. To illustrate this point I will cite my 
own case. While nursing a person sick with confluent Smallpox 
the weather was very cold, from zero to 35 degrees below. Not 
desiring to wet my hair I neglected to protect the' top of my head 
and in due time had a sore head, but it did not break out there. 
I suffered upon the unprotected parts, viz: the lungs, bowels, top 
of the head, and three places where the skin was broken; but on 
no other portion cf the body. This was not to exceed the one- 
thousandth part of what those patients suffered whose whole body 
was a mass of sores. Had 1 protected the top of my head as 
well as I did the remainder of my body, I should not have suffered 
from the disease at all. Under present circumstances I pity per- 
sons who go near Smallpox, whose only protection is the fact that 
they have had the disease before, and recovered from it, for if it 



breaks out with them again their chances of recovery are very 
slight. I have good reasons to consider myself much safer when 
protected in the manner described, than any person who has had 
Smallpox and recovered. 

The cost of this preventative treatment for twelve months 
need not 'exceed 50 cents. The same material being used freely 
upon the sick and also used as a disinfectant around the premises 
will, of course, take much more. 

By using the disinfectant in the manner described once a 
day on the exposed head and hands and once a week all over the 
body there is little danger of taking the disease through the skin. 
Of course it might be considered by some a matter of safety to 
bathe the v/hole surface of the body every day of exposure. 1 do 
not consider that necessary for this reason: The Nitrate of Lead 
solution will sterilize any disease germs that have been upon the 
skin for two days; and by letting the disinfectant dry there it will 
stay upon the skin two or three days more and continue to destroy 
fresh germs that might settle there. The solution given is in no 
way injurious to a person but is very beneficial, especially refresh- 
ing and pleasant, and is at the same time one of the cheapest, 
safest, and best disinfectant baths. If used in a bath tub, one-- 
half pound to a barrel of water would be sufficiently strong to de- 
stroy any Smallpox germs; for a wash, either upon a sick patient 
or for preventative purposes, one-quarter ounce to one ounce in 
a quart of water; for the itching from the scabs one ounce to a 
quart of water, or even stronger than that. 

HOW SMALLPOX SPREADS 

First: By coming in contact with persons sick with Smallpox. 

Second: By being carried upon clothing, bedding, etc. 

The above confines the disease to certain people, or what 



might be called, makes the disease local. The next, or third way, 
is through the medium of the atmosphere. This last makes 
the disease general, and makes it run outside of certain 
limits. While severe cases of Smallpox are contracted 
principally by persons getting in contact with sick per- 
sons, infected clothing, etc., it is still very evident that the atmos- 
phere gets charged with the disease germs. This is made plainer 
when I say that the atmosphere in a room where a patient is sick, 
no matter at what temperature it is kept at, soon gets suffocating; 
giving a sensation of smothering like that experienced from being 
in a place heavily charged with carbonic acid gas. Abundant 
ventilation is a pressing necessity on this account. This suffoca- 
ting I attribute to the disease germs floating in the atmosphere, 
getting upon the lungs. In the case of carbonic acid gas suffoca- 
tion, breathing power is soon completely restored when a person 
reaches the clear atmosphere. In the case of Smallpox germs 
upon the lungs, relief is only partially restored by going into a bet- 
ter atmosphere and the smothering effect can be felt several days 
after; or what is still more likely, the disease takes effect upon the 
lungs and the person has fever, mistaking it for pneumonia, a bad 
cold, or anything else but Smallpox upon the lungs. Persons who 
have had Smallpox on the lungs are just as likely to have the dis- 
ease several times, the immunity which they receive being con- 
fined to the outer surface of the body or skin. 

To make this matter plainer, of a person who has recovered 
from Smallpox of the lungs having a greater resistance to Small- 
pox than those who have not; and still be liable to infection, I will 
say that the minimum power of resistance, although very much in- 
creased by the recovery from the sickness, can still be overcome 
by an increased power of infection. 



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